Jennifer Siciliano paints a 9/11 first responder at a Ground Zero 10th anniversary affair.Photo Credit: Drew KingA woman is saying her husband, a former New York City Firefighter, died after contracting throat cancer after working at ground zero following 9/11.Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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A proposal to change which agency oversees the World Trade Center Health Program, affecting more than 83,000 first-responders and other survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City could endanger future coverage,
according to multiple news reports.

Last week,, U.S. Rep. Eliot L. Engel, an original co-sponsor of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, joined members of Congress from the Tri-State Area to call on the Trump Administration to halt its efforts to separate the World Trade Center Health Program from the National Institute of Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH).

The World Trade Center Health Program ensures that Americans suffering from debilitating conditions as a result of exposure to toxins from the 9/11 terrorist attacks do not bear any of the financial costs related to those conditions. The Program has given medical care to more than 83,000 9/11 survivors and first responders.

“We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to care for the heroes of 9/11,” said Engel, a Democrat who represents parts of Westchester County and the Bronx. “We fought an obstructionist Congress for years to ensure survivors and first responders are afforded the care and compensation they deserve, and we must continue fighting to make sure the World Trade Center Health Program is working as we promised it would.”